Serving food outdoors is a great American tradition. However, containers of open food are often an invitation to annoying insects which light upon the food and render it unappetizing to unsanitary. Also, the wind can dry out many foods, particularly breads and cakes, rendering them hard or unappetizing. At picnics, tables are decked with covered food containers which are suddenly uncovered to allow guests access to the food within a short window. Typically, the covers are solid (e.g., foil) or opaque plastic or heavy glass. The former two do not allow sight of the food until removed. The latter cover, while allowing sight of the food, is heavy, often the size of the serving container, and must be moved to a location other than the serving table for lack of room to set it down while accessing the food. Otherwise, one needs a cooperative guest to hold the cover while one accesses the food underneath. When the covers are removed, it is often a battle between the guests and the insects as to who gets the food. This causes the foods to be recovered and one has to peak under the many covers to rediscover that dish from which one seeks seconds. At large commercially catered events, the problem becomes even more exaggerated. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device that displays food under a clear sanitary cover, that allows one to single handedly tilt the cover to gain access to the food, and to retilt the cover down to reprotect the food while offering visual access and decision making to the next guest. In this way, all the guests do not have to eat as soon as the food is opened and can access food and desserts at their palates desire.
A second problem at such gatherings is cleaning and storing all of the food containers. Food covers for plates and desserts add another dimension to the storage needs of the homeowner. On a commercial scale, the storage needs for such covers, which largely occupy open space, becomes immense. Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide a food guard that is readily collapsible to a substantially planar (space saving) shape during non-use. This planar shape also facilitates cleaning, particularly in a mechanical washer. A further object is that the space saving (substantially planar) shape must readily reassemble into its curved (space encompassing) shape when needed for duty. A further object is that assembly must be simple and not require tools to affect completion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,560, entitled “Protective and Warming Bonnet for Food,” issued to Gerster, et al., on Aug. 6, 1996. The '560 patent teaches a collapsible food cover that is a “folding bellows . . . made of pleated paper, in the manner of a Chinese lanterns.” U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,441, entitled “Disposable Stackable Splatter shield and Frame Thereof,” issued to Schoeppe on Dec. 27, 1983, discloses a collapsible splatter shield that is a pleated metal foil. However, neither of these devices has any permanency, neither is cleanable, and neither allows one to visualize what is underneath when in an operative position.
Des. Pat. 259,690, entitled “Dish with Hinged Cover,” issued to Buchsteiner nee Fetzer on Jun. 30, 1981. The '690 patent discloses a non-collapsible fixed shape dish with a transparent hinged cover. While the '690 patent allows one to see the food under the cover, the device is an assembled unit that is not collapsible and thus occupies substantial space when stored en mass. Thus, there is an unsolved need for a space saving device that allows one to visualize and access food on a congested table, and that after use is readily collapsible to facilitate storage in a minimal amount of space.